Oct 31 Imperial delivers a strong second quarter and boosts earnings by 45%

Imperial Oil reported net income of $936 million or $1.10 per share in the third quarter, up 45% from the same period last year. Production increased to 307,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day, an increase of 7% from Q3-2013. The company spent $1.4 billion in capital and exploration for the quarter, spend mostly on their oil sands division. Imperial provided the following update on their oil sands operations in Alberta:

Bitumen production at the Kearl Oil Sands Mine averaged 78,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the last quarter. A major maintenance turnaround was completed in September which included upgrades and modifications to the ore preparation plant, hydrotransport pipelines, extraction and froth treatment facilities.

The Kearl Expansion Project was reported at 97% complete by the end of the third quarter. The project remains on schedule for a late-2015 start-up and will add another 110,000 bpd to the overall capacity of the plant.

The Cold Lake Nabiye in-situ project advanced to 96% complete. Initial steam is planned by year-end and first oil production is expected in Q1 of 2015. The Nabiye facility will have a production capacity of 40,000 bpd once fully operational.

Production at the Cold Lake in-situ facility averaged 149,000 bpd, up from 147,000 bpd for the third quarter of 2013.

The Edmonton Rail Terminal project remains on target for an early 2015 start-up. The company has also sanctioned an additional phase of expansion for the terminal which will see the loading capacity increased from 100,000 to 210,000 barrels.

The average sale price for bitumen was $74.82 for the previous quarter, down 8% for the same period last year.

The Kearl Project is 71% owned by Imperial Oil; ExxonMobil owns the balance at 29%. ExxonMobil owns a 69.6% interest in Imperial Oil. Imperial Oil also has a 25% stake in the Syncrude oil sands operation.

Imperial Oil stock trades on the TSX (TSX:IOL) currently yields a 1% dividend.